Post navigation

Julius Simon and Bertha Alexander: Mystery Solved!

Back on October 24, 2017, I wrote about Regina Katzenstein, the daughter of Mina Katzenstein and her husband Wolf Katzenstein. Mina Katzenstein was a daughter of Jacob Katzenstein and Sarchen Lion and was the niece of my great-great-grandfather Gerson Katzenstein. Her daughter Regina was thus my paternal grandmother’s first cousin.

Regina married Selig Alexander of Frankenau, and they had seven children, but only four lived to adulthood: Bertha, Rosa, Mina, and Samuel. I learned that Regina, Seligman, and three of their children had escaped to South Africa in the 1930s, but I had no luck finding out what had happened to their oldest daughter Bertha. I knew she had married Julius Simon of Pohl-Goens in 1922, but that was it. I didn’t know whether they had any children or whether they had survived the Holocaust. They just seemed to have disappeared.

I asked Aaron Knappstein if he could help, and he soon sent me this wonderful photograph of Julius Simon taken when he was serving in the German military during World War I. But I’d given up on ever finding out what had happened to Julius and Bertha after 1922.

And then last week Aaron shocked me by emailing me that he had learned what had happened to Julius Simon and Bertha Alexander. Aaron had written to Dr. Dieter Wolf, the head of the museum and archives for the city of Butzbach, Germany, and Dr. Wolf had responded with detailed information about Julius and Bertha. Now I have closure on one of the most perplexing mysteries in my research of the Katzenstein family.

Dr. Wolf relied on a review of documents including address books from Pohl-Goens but primarily on a book written by Werner Reusch in 1998 entitled Wäi the Bimbel noach ean Polgies gehale hoat. Pohl-Göns in the 20th century (Selbstverlag Butzbach-Ebersgöns 1998). [I have no idea what that title means, and neither did Google Translate. Does anyone?] UPDATE: See the comment from Michael Zorn below. Michael lives in Pohl-Gons and informed me that the title means “When the Steam Train Stopped in Pohl-Gons.” Thank you, Michael.

The book not only includes information about the family of Julius Simon and Bertha Alexander; it includes several photographs of them. Here is one of Julius and Bertha with both Bertha’s parents and Julius’ parents taken in 1923; I believe the young boy was Julius’ nephew.

According to Dr. Wolf and Werner Reusch, Bertha and Julius had two children, a daughter Senta, born in 1926, and a son Martin, who died before his first birthday. He was born on September 9, 1928, and died on January 9, 1929; Martin is buried in Pohl-Goens. According to Werner Reusch, the Simon family was a distinguished family in the town.

When Julius received a warning that he was going to be arrested by the Nazis in early 1936, he and Bertha and Senta left immediately, first going to Frankfurt for a short time and then to Johannesburg, South Africa, where Bertha’s parents and siblings also settled as well as many of Julius’ relatives. This is a photograph from Reusch’s book of Senta, Julius, and Bertha in 1940 in Johannesburg.

In 1966, Bertha, Julius, and Senta left South Africa and moved to Israel, where they settled in Rehovoth. Julius died there in January 1987; my cousin Bertha Alexander Simon lived to 101, dying in February 1995. Here is a photograph of her celebrating her 100th birthday in Israel.

Wonderful to find relatives, especially the missing ones. I found a great grandfather last month-father of Ethel Melloy Dinlocker ( niece of Emily Wiley Cohen). He is buried in West Laurel Cemetery -Philadelphia and died in 1838. He is buried in the same cemetery as my other great grandfather William Hutchinson Manning, who died when I was nine or 10 years old. Irish/ English side, grandfather of my Dad. Melloys also from Ireland and also from Philadelphia. NOW working on finding two brothers of Louisia MAY GRIESEMER wILEY- Reverend Henry Griesemer from Maryland (Baptist Minister) and more about George. There was the youngest Tillie (Mathtilde).
George and his wife are buried with Lousia Wiley and James P. in unmarked grave. I am thinking he lived in Hatboro or owned a farm in Pineville Bucks Co. I have no one to pass this onto, but thinking your cousin Jim might be interested in knowing how the Wiley family came about and where they all are buried. Still working on John K. wileys son’s whereabouts and family!

I’m so happy for you. I know it has been hard to write about all of the relatives who did not make it out of Nazi Germany.
As for the name of the book, it sounds very similar to Luxembourgish. At first I though Bimbel might be a bell. When the bell still held a (Polgies). But I also found Holy Bible as Holyge Bimbel. I have absolutely no idea how to translate Polgies. Does this make sense?

Well, none of it makes sense to me! But maybe if I could read the whole book (i.e., if it were in English), I would find an explanation. No one seems to know what it means! Perhaps the town of Pohl-Gons had its own dialect??

Aha—A light bulb went off! Polgies—is Pohl-Goens—the town. Or maybe their way of referring to people from Pohl-Goens. Does that help? It’s a history of the town (not just the Jewish residents, as far as I can tell).

Michael, danke!! Thank you so much for translating this for me. I would never have figured out that Bimbel meant steam train. Now the title makes sense. This is very helpful, and I appreciate your help.